MOIST Vegan Pumpkin Coffee Cake with ‘Cream Cheese’ Ripple
This absurdly moist vegan pumpkin coffee cake is based off of my award-winning pumpkin bread– it’s soft, tender, and filled with a ripple of brown sugar ‘cream cheese’ and a cinnamon spiced crumble on top! You can’t stop after one bite!

The pumpkin coffee cake recipe you NEED:
If you’re looking for a treat that’s simple and could easily double as breakfast or a dessert, then this ridiculously moist vegan pumpkin coffee cake recipe is it.
We’re talking tender, soft crumb (that just uses pumpkin- no eggs nor egg replacements!) with a ripple of both gooey pumpkin spice sugar and brown sugar cream cheese (all dairy free!) through the middle. And of course, topped with an iconic crunchy brown sugar pumpkin spice crumble.

This coffee cake is a wonderful combination of my iconic vegan coffee cake and pumpkin bread, with a spin off of my blueberry lemon coffee cake and almond croissant coffee cake that use cream cheese fillings.
Next to my apple crumb cake, this is the best way to start a fall morning. Of course, when paired with a pumpkin spice latte!
Ingredients
We’ll need to make both the actual cake batter and the streusel topping. But don’t worry- both the streusel and batter are made from very similar ingredients.
For this vegan coffee cake, you’ll need:
- Flour: you can use gluten free 1:1 baking flour or all purpose flour here.
- Granulated sugar & brown sugar: you can also swap in coconut sugar if you’d like this coffee cake to be refined sugar free. A note about sugar, though: if you are truly vegan, please make sure you use vegan-certified organic granulated sugar, as non-organic brands tend to use bone char.
- Vegan butter: I recommend using Miyoko’s vegan butter; for nut-free, Flora Plant Butter or Earth Balance.
- Pumpkin spice blend: You can also use a a DIY pumpkin pie spice blend.
- Pumpkin puree: the pumpkin puree here plays a double role as also substituting in for eggs in traditional baking! No need for any additional binder here! If you’d like to, though, you can substitute in half of the pumpkin with vegan sour cream or vegan dairy free greek yogurt.
- Dairy free milk: this can be oat milk, soy milk, almond milk or the like.
- Leavening agents: this is your baking soda and baking powder.
The streusel topping will consist of just flour, sugar, pumpkin spice blend and vegan butter.

How to make pumpkin coffee cake (overview)
For the full written instructions and ingredient measurements, see the bottom of this post in the recipe card. You can also hit the “jump to recipe” button at the top of this post! Here, we’ll go over a brief overview of the steps, along with providing visuals for a better understanding of the recipe.
You’re just going to love how simple and quick this pumpkin coffee cake is to make. The perfect treat to make right before a weekend brunch or as an easy and cozy fall morning breakfast.
You’ll first want to prepare the pan and get the oven preheated. Then we’ll start by making the streusel first, followed by the coffee cake batter. The reason being is that once the wet ingredients interact with the baking soda and baking powder, the chemical reaction starts.
This means we need to get the batter into the oven as soon as possible! Making the streusel topping first will make sure we minimize the time the batter spends outside of the oven.
Here’s how to make this easy pumpkin coffee cake recipe:
- First make the streusel topping, cream cheese batter, and cinnamon sugar filling.These three components will then be set aside.
- Next, we’ll make the vegan pumpkin batter. Simply whisk the ingredients together in the order listed below in the recipe card!
- Layer the coffee cake: Add half of the batter to the prepared pan, followed by the cream cheese filling, and pumpkin sugar. Then add the remaining batter on top, followed by the streusel topping.
- Bake the vegan pumpkin coffee cake. Once baked, you can make the easy two ingredient vegan glaze to go on top! Slice and serve!


Gluten free option:
To easily make this coffee cake gluten free, simply swap in gluten free 1:1 baking flour. I’ve made this recipe with both King Arthur’s Measure for Measure flour.
Pumpkin Coffee Cake FAQs
Can I make my own pumpkin spice blend?
If you don’t have pumpkin spice blend, you can absolutely make your own blend. I would recommend making your own versus just using all cinnamon. If you use all cinnamon, it will taste more like a classic coffee cake over a fall-inspired pumpkin crumb cake. You definitely need the cloves, nutmeg, and ginger!
What can I top this pumpkin coffee cake with?
Simply whisk together powdered sugar and a few drops of dairy free milk for an easy glaze that takes this pumpkin coffee cake to a whole new level!
Why did my coffee cake come out gluey?
This happens when you’ve over-scooped the flour. I recommend using weighted measurements here, but if you don’t have a kitchen scale, definitely check out how to properly measure flour. When measuring flour, always spoon and level, rather than scoop!

You are just going to absolutely love this easy vegan pumpkin coffee cake! It’s the perfect vegan fall breakfast recipe that’s full of autumn’s best flavors!
Be sure to leave a rating and review if you’ve tried this recipe. And check out these other vegan pumpkin recipes for more inspiration!
Want to save this recipe for later? Add it to your favorite recipe board on Pinterest!
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below. This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
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MOIST Vegan Pumpkin Coffee Cake with ‘Cream Cheese’ Ripple
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 75
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This absurdly moist vegan pumpkin coffee cake is based off of my award-winning pumpkin bread- it’s soft, tender, and filled with a ripple of brown sugar ‘cream cheese’ and a cinnamon spiced crumble on top! You can’t stop after one bite!
Ingredients
Brown Sugar Spiced Crumble:
- 1 cup (125 g) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp ground pumpkin spice blend
- 3/4 cup (150 g) light brown sugar
- 5 tbsp (70 g) vegan butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp sea salt
Cream Cheese Filling:
- 8 ounces vegan cream cheese
- 1 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
Pumpkin Spice Sugar:
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (37 g) all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp pumpkin spice blend
Pumpkin Coffee Cake Batter:
- 3 cups (375 g) all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp pumpkin spice blend
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/4 cup (250 g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (113 g) vegan butter, melted
- 3/4 cup (170 g) pumpkin puree
- 2/3 cup (180 mL) dairy free milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F, and line a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Grease the rims of the springform pan.
- Make the crumble first: In a medium bowl, use a fork to mix together the crumble ingredients until it resembles a sand like texture. Set aside.
- Next, make the cream cheese filling: In another medium bowl, use a hand mixer or a whisk to cream together the cream cheese filling ingredients until the cream cheese is fluffy and the ingredients are integrated (about 1-2 minutes). Set aside.
- Then make the pumpkin spice sugar: In a small bowl, whisk together the pumpkin spice sugar ingredients, and set aside.
- Now make the pumpkin coffee cake batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the vegan butter, sugar, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine. Then add in the remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin spice, and sea salt. As you’re whisking the dry ingredients, pour in the dairy free milk. Whisk just until the dry ingredients are incorporated with the wet.
- Assemble the coffee cake: Spoon half of the pumpkin coffee cake batter into the pan, and spread it to the edges of the pan. Then spoon the cream cheese layer on top, and use an offset spatula to spread the cream cheese to the edges. Next, sprinkle all of the pumpkin spice sugar over the cream cheese filling. Finally, spoon the remaining pumpkin coffee cake batter on top to the edges of the pan. Sprinkle the crumble on top of the batter.
- Bake: Place the springform pan into the oven to bake for 75-77 minutes (it’s a long bake time, but don’t worry- it doesn’t dry out!). Cover the crumble if it looks like it’s browning too fast. Remove the pan from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean and the crumble is lightly golden on top.
- Cool: Allow the coffee cake to cool in its pan for 1 hour.
- Serve: When ready to serve, carefully remove the walls of the springform pan, and dust with powdered sugar on top. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
*Gluten Free: You can swap in gluten-free 1:1 baking flour (such as King Arthur’s measure for measure) or oat flour. For gluten free flour blends, please use the cup measurements then convert to gram measurements (so if 1 cup of Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF baking flour weighs 148 g per cup, you’ll multiply 148 by 3 cups of flour to yield 444 g for this recipe). If you’re using King Arthur measure-for-measure, however, 1 cup of KA = 1 cup AP flour in weight as well, so you can use 375 g of King Arthur GF measure-for-measure flour. For oat flour, please use the gram measurements rather than the cup measurements (so you would need 3 3/4 cups of oat flour for 375 g).
Pumpkin spice blend: if you don’t have a blend of pumpkin spice, you can easily making one. Here is a great DIY pumpkin spice blend that I use often.
Great recipe. I will be making this again and again until the spring, probably! I used 2% milk, regular butter, and a mix of all-purpose white flour and wheat flour for the cake portion. I also added 1/2 tsp salt since the butter I used was unsalted. I baked it for 40 minutes and let it sit for 30. It is perfect! I did not making the optional topping, as I found it sweet and flavorful enough!
This is so incredibly helpful and useful, thank you so much, Kate!! Great tips, and so glad to hear you were able to make those ingredient swaps without an issue! Enjoy and thank you again!
I made this today….sooo good! what is the best way to store the leftovers? how long will it keep on the counter? refrigerator?
So happy to hear it!! The leftovers will be good for 3-4 days at room temperature covered in an airtight container or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Alternatively, it’ll be 4-5 days in the fridge!
I totally love this recipe! I decided to make this into muffins, and they turned out really well. I used regular butter instead of vegan, and baked them at the prescribed temperature for about 22 minutes. The only time I questioned myself was when I noticed how thick the batter was. Lol. I trusted the process, and am so happy I did. Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe!
This is so wonderful to hear!! Thank you so much for such a wonderful review! Yes, vegan batters tend to be on the thicker side, but they bake beautifully! I’ve tried making batters to be a bit more fluid and have found they bake too dense unfortunately! Baking is such a fascinating process 🙂
hi Britt! can I make this recipe without arrow root? or any substitute if not?
thanks so much!
Hi Francis! Yes, you can substitute arrowroot with cornstarch 🙂 Enjoy!
Would a regular cake pan work with this?
Hi Courtney! It technically would, but you’d have to flip the coffee cake upside down to remove it, and risk ruining the crumble.
Surely it’s a lovely cake but I have no idea why mine haven’t risen enough. It’s just half the size of the pictures and I am quite saddened by this fact 😭
Hi there! This sounds like it was either a baking powder issue or you used a larger springform pan! Double check that your baking powder isn’t expired (and that you added enough!) 🙂 That was most likely the issue!
Help! I don’t get the gluten free cup and grams notes. On bobs red mill site it says it’s 148 g per cup for Bob’s 1:1. So for 3 cups it would be 444. Am I using the wrong info or not understanding? Thank you! We love all your recipes just want to make sure I measure correctly.
I’m so sorry for the confusion!! Yes, use 444 grams- I’m looking at my notes and wondering I think their flour blend might have changed in weight. Before, on their site, I had seen 140 grams. If you look at the back of your bag and see what a serving size of 1/4 cup equals in grams (should either by 35 g or 37 g), and multiply that by 4, then that will be 1 cup for the weight of your flour. Then multiply that by 3, and you’ll get the grams you should use here! (So 444 g would be correct if the measurement says 37 g!). I hope that helps!! If it’s too confusing, you can definitely use King Arthur measure for measure- that’s recently been my go to because it equals 1 cup AP flour in weight!
YUM!
Omg!! This is the best pumpkin dessert EVER!! It was very easy to make and for sure will be making again!! Thank you thank you thank you for sharing all these wonderful delights!!!
I’m so happy to hear this!! Thank you so much for giving it a go!! Enjoy!!
No coffee in a coffee cake? Is this a special baking science I’m not familiar with?!
Hahah no, no special baking science! Coffee cake actually doesn’t contain coffee in it! I know, it’s a misnomer 🙂
hey tiffany! haha same, I’m not from the US and didn’t know coffee cake before but it’s simply called that cause it goes great with coffee taste wise. It’s always those kind of cakes with streusel topping and a center swirl of some sort. There’s never coffee in it. Same with German chocolate cake. Has nothing to do with Germany.
Hello! Can’t wait to make this but have a question about the pan? In the pics looks like a round spring form pan, but in the instructions it says an 8×8 pan which is square? Can you clarify which you use or if both etc? And what size your spring form pan was? Also did you find that both Bobs 1:1 and KA flours produced a good cake or did you prefer one over the other?
Thank you so much!
Hi Kelly! Oh yes, I’m so sorry, you might be seeing the old photos in which I baked the coffee cake in a round 8″ springform pan- either one will work! Whichever shape you’d like your coffee cake to be in 🙂 For the flour, I personally liked King Arthur measure for measure better- it produced a much fluffier cake in my opinion!
Enjoy!
Thank you Britt… it came out wonderfully in my 9″ spring form pan!!! Fabulous recipe! I tweaked the filling a bit adding in chopped pecans and more cinnamon. Thank you!!!
I’m so happy to hear that!! Enjoy 🙂 Sounds great!! Thanks for the review!
I really liked this recipe, especially because it was gluten free and vegan! Pretty easy to put together and didn’t take much time to prepare. Only thing i would change in my own kitchen, is putting 1 tablespoon less of pumpkin pie spice in the filling and in the crumble, only because it’s a little too spicy to me. But other than that, the recipe is great!
Totally understandable 🙂 A little less spice could definitely work! Thanks so much for the review, and so glad you enjoyed!!
This is the BEST coffee cake I’ve ever had…. literally. It was so easy to make, the crumble on top was thick and crunchy, and the cake was so fluffy and moist. At first I thought the “batter” was wrong because it was so thick it wouldn’t pour but would scoop. Nope, came out perfectly. I will be adding this to our fall bake rotation
Can I make this ahead of time and freeze? If so, any suggestions?
Absolutely! I would recommend wrapping it tightly and freezing once it has cooled down. You can then let it thaw overnight in the fridge before slicing the next day!